Jose Mourinho vs Arsene Wenger: Who is right?

Last week, Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho called Arsene Wenger a specialist in failure after the Arsenal manager told the press the league was Chelsea's to lose, sparking another squabble between two of the greatest managers in Premier League history.

Despite the fact the two do have some sort of friendship, they both like to play mind games to nerve each others respective teams as the Premier league title race enters it's final months with both Arsenal and Chelsea in the hunt for the countries biggest award.

So the question that many are asking is, is Jose Mourinho right when he says Arsene Wenger is a specialist in failure or is Wenger right when he says Mourinho is scared of failure?

Now, before I start with this debate, I would like one thing to be certain. These two managers are up there with the greatest managers of all time and however much they slag each other of, they will always be legends of the modern era.

When Jose Mourinho does state that Wenger is a specialist in failure, you cannot completely agree or disagree with his statement.

Since being appointed Arsenal manager in 1996, Wenger has won three Premier League titles, four FA Cups and four Community Shields, winning these trophies playing beautiful attacking football and even going one campaign completely unbeaten in the Premier league 2003/4 season.

However, despite Wenger's success in his early days at Arsenal, his side have not won a major honour in almost nine years, which for a club of Arsenal's stature, is not good enough.

In those eight years, the Frenchman has worked with players like Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp, Ashley Cole, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and new boy Mesut Ozil, suggesting that maybe the manager is the weak link.

Another thing Wenger has been criticised for is his lack of transfer activity.

The club record signing of Real Madrid play-maker Mesut Ozil was the first real money he had spent in a long time, and that was because the club had made a horrific start to the season and Wenger was rumoured to be in line to become the first sacking of the year.

With Arsenal top of the league in January, Gunners fans were screaming for Wenger to bring in a big name striker to fire them to the title.

Instead, he signed 31-year-old Swedish midfielder Kim Kallstrom from Spartak Moscow on loan for the rest of the season to provide back up for his small selection of central midfielders, despite the fact Kallstrom could not feature for a couple of weeks to a back injury.

However regardless of the fact he has had some very poor squads, he has always managed to get his team to qualify for the Champions League, an achievement maybe no other manager in world football could achieve.

This season, he has not had a clinical striker or much squad depth, but his side have been top of the league for the majority of the campaign.

Arguably Wenger's biggest attribute is his development of young players, turning them from nobodies to world stars.

The likes of Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Ashley Cole, Robin van Persie and Jack Wilshere have all been developed by Wenger and are now either former or current world class players.

But despite all these positives, you have to say Mourinho is probably right as success is everything these days and while Wenger is looking to end his eight year trophy drought with Arsenal, managers like Mourinho are continuing to win honours all around the world.

It's difficult to agree with Wenger when you consider that Mourinho won two Premier League titles, one FA Cup, two League Cups and one Community Shield in just three years in his first spell at Chelsea from 2004 to 2007.

The Portuguese tactician has also won another fourteen trophies at three other clubs in the shape of Porto of his native Portugal, Inter Milan of Italy and Real Madrid of Spain before returning to Stamford Bridge last summer.

These include two Champions league winners medals, two more than Wenger has ever won.

In this war of words, Mourinho is a clear winner. Wenger is a great manager and the job he has done at Arsenal has been terrific.

But maybe it is time for Wenger to move on to finally bring silverware back to Arsenal and make them the most feared club in the country again.

DISCLAIMER: This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article. GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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DISCLAIMER

This article has been written by a member of the GiveMeSport Writing Academy and does not represent the views of
GiveMeSport.com or SportsNewMedia. The views and opinions expressed are solely that of the author credited at the top of this article.
GiveMeSport.com and SportsNewMedia do not take any responsibility for the content of its contributors.

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